Battle of Waterberg
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Battle of Waterberg 11
August 1904
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The events related here are a continuation of the
Battle of Waterberg
page 1.
12 August: The Herero Nation Follow
Their Leaders Into The Omaheke Desert.
Deimling's disregard of his orders had nearly cost the Germans the
day and had most certainly robbed his superior of the outright
victory that was sought. Very early on the morning of the 12th he
advanced on Hamakari, one day late. The impending arrival of such a
large contingent of German reinforcements dealt a much needed
psychological blow to the Hereros and from the top of the Waterberg
the Heliograph crew could see them pouring away from the field of
battle in a south easterly direction.
Von Trotha had failed to destroy the
Herero force on the 11th, but he had broken their resistance to a
degree that even he did not appreciate, and he had come to realise that
Samuel Maharero preferred to flee rather than surrender. Von Trotha
was also of the consideration that once the Hereros had gained safe
distance they might regroup and return to do battle. The German soldiers were
exhausted and needed some time to recover, so he allowed them to
rest on the 12th.
13 August:
Deimling and
Von Muhlenfels sections began moving east in pursuit of the main body of
fleeing Hereros. The entire surrounding area of the Waterberg had
been grazed-out by the Herero animals and the German horses and
draft animals had not been fed since 10th. The 30km march to
Ombujo-Wakune followed a trail that had been heavily trampled by the
Herero and their livestock. The air was thick with fine dust and the
Germans suffered greatly. Whenever they reached a waterhole at they
found them choked with dead Herero stock. By midnight of the 13th
the Germans decided to return to Hamakari. It was not possible, at
this stage, to continue the pursuit. The retreat was slow and
difficult, the soldiers walked alongside their horses to spare them,
many of the draft animals pulled their loads until they collapsed
and died soon after.
14 August: At about 13h00 the exhausted
soldiers arrived at the waterholes at Hamakari. General Von Trotha
wrote in his diary that night: "I am dead tired. Haven't slept for
four nights and yesterday and today twelve hours in the saddle.
Washed my hands for the first time in four days, they look
dreadful."
16 August: The uprising of the Herero had firmly
implanted in Von Trotha's mind the belief that Germans, civilian or
military would neither be safe or able to develop the colony
successfully as long as the threat of further dissidence existed.
His plan was that the Herero, as a nation, should leave the German
Protectorate, and relocate in British Bechuanaland, by means of
force if necessary. Those who resisted should be killed.
21 August:
Von Trotha placed a
price of 5,000 Marks on Samuel Mahahrero's head and 1,000 Marks on
any other Herero headmen.
30 September: Von Trotha wrote in his diary,
"There is a
lack of water for man and beast, horses die of the rampant horse
sickness, the climate is barbarous, ice cold horrible wind, many,
myself included, suffer from a miserable headache." At the
end of this day he decided to cease the pursuit of the Herero across
the unforgiving Omaheke. The incidence of typhoid amongst the men
has risen steadily since the 11 August and the horses and mules were
dying of thirst. But what of the Herero?
The month of August lays deep in the Namibian winter. There are
times when the east wind blows icily from across the Kalahari. The
days can be warm, but night temperatures plunge below zero. The
grasses of the great savannahs are thirsty and burned a light biscuit brown. It
is the time when animals and man begin the wait for the next rains
that might, in a good year, bring some relief in November. The level
of the water holes becomes lower by the day.
The flight into the
Omaheke:
To the east of the Waterberg lays the bush for
nearly 200km before melting into the wilderness of the Omaheke
Desert and this was the route that the Herero took to escape being
captured by their enemy, but refuge in British Bechuanaland
(Botswana) would prove to be an unobtainable goal for the vast
majority.
The women with the children and livestock fled
ahead of the men who took the 'rear-guard'. The route to the east
followed the sparse chain of water holes that lacked the capacity to
quench the thirst of a nation in flight along with its horses and
cattle herds. Soon the waterholes were choked with the carcasses of
dead animals and rendered useless for any followers and closing down
the path of return. But continue they must, for behind them came the
Germans who hunted them down with gun, bayonet and club.
The sheer volume of people
in a dazed panic moving along with their bewildered animals soon
began to fail. The elderly and the young, along with the infirm and
sick soon fell by the dry and dusty wayside, and within a few days
the strong grew weaker and they too began to die, and the scavengers
of Africa's plains began their task of clearing up the bodies of
those who succumbed and of those too weak to resist. By the end of
1905, some 17 months later, the British authorities recorded that only 1,175 Herero had
made it through the Omaheke to claim sanctuary in Bechuanaland.
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General Von Trotha
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2nd October Vernichtungsbefehl
(Extermination Order)
It was on this day that the German troops were
addressed by General von Trotha who read to them the following
proclamation: "I, the great general
of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Herero nation. The
Hereros are no longer German subjects. They have murdered and stolen
and cut of the noses and ears and other members of the bodies of
wounded soldiers. Now they are too cowardly to continue fighting. I
say to the nation: Every person who delivers one of the captains as
a captive to a military post, will receive 1,000 Marks. The one who
hands over Samuel Maharero will receive 5,000 Marks. All Hereros must leave the
country (German South West Africa). If they do not do so, I will force them with
cannons to do so. Within the German borders
every Herero, with or without weapons, with or without
cattle, will be shot. I no longer shelter women and children. They
must either return to their people or they will be shot at. This is
my message to the Herero nation."
With this letter Von Trotha issued
a proclamation to the German troops explaining that any soldier who
captured a Herero captain would be rewarded. Instructions were given
that Herero men were to be shot, but the troops were to fire over
the heads of Herero women and children to force them to flee. No
atrocities should be committed on women and children, and that the
troops were to maintain the good reputation of the German soldier. |
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Kaiser Wilhelm 2nd fully supported his
general's solution to the Herero problem and following the battles
at Waterberg wrote a congratulatory letter to his general, " I hereby
readily state that you fully justified my confidence in your insight
and warfare which prompted me to appoint you Commander of the
Schutztruppe for South West Africa in difficult times. I wish to
confirm my Imperial gratitude and my warm appreciation for your
outstanding achievements by awarding you the
Order Pour le Merite."
The Imperial Chancellor Count Von Bulow
along with senior members of the Colonial Department in Berlin were
shocked when they heard of Von Trotha's 'Extermination Order'. Von
Bulow contacted the Kaiser requesting that the order be revoked
adding that Von Trotha's order was impractical and crime against
humanity. Also "If
the rebellious natives where annihilated or expelled, this would
seriously undermine the potential for development." and that it would be,
"demeaning to our standard among
the civilized nations of the world."
But it was only following reports and pressure
from the Rhenish Missionary Society regarding the German Army's
extermination activities in South West Africa, and not until 9
November 1904 that Berlin ordered General von Trotha to, "spare the lives of all Hereros, except the
lives of the leaders and those directly guilty." These words
surely confirm that Berlin had initially approved of von Trotha's
vernichtungsbefel.
The Cost - German: The fragile economy of the colony almost collapsed completely.
Cattle farming and trading companies were pushed to the edge of
bankruptcy. The losses of the colonists and of the indigenous
peoples who stayed loyal to the German cause was estimated to be
some 7,385,000 Mark. About 2,500 Germans were killed in total. In
the first 6 months of the conflict 43 German farmers were killed
plus their farm labourers. 34 Traders were killed. The Marine-Expeditionkorps
lost over 100 men and below is a table of Army losses between
January 1904 and March 1907
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Officers |
Men |
Total |
| Dead |
62 |
614 |
676 |
| Missing |
2 |
74 |
76 |
| Wounded |
89 |
818 |
907 |
| Total |
153 |
1506 |
1659 |
| Died of
disease |
26 |
663 |
689 |
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Total |
2348 |
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The Cost - African: Nobody really knows as to how many Hereros perished during the
uprising.
The estimates of the Herero population before
the conflict vary:
(1) In 1874 the Rhenish Missionary,
Reverend Irle claimed there were between 70,000 to 80,000 Hereroes
and a further 20,000 Mbanderu. This was based on hearsay and
followed by a guess.
(2) In 1876 The British Special Commissioner To Tribes North of
the Orange River W. Coates Palgrave spent some time in 'Namibia' and
reported that there were about 73,000 Hereos and 13,000 Mbanderus.
At no time did Palgrave undertake any form of census, his report
being founded on that of the Missionaries.
(3) In 1895 The Germans were
steadily increasing and organizing the knowledge base of their
colony when Lt. Eggers submitted his account that there were a total
of some 45,000 Hereros under Maharero at Okahandja and a Kambazembi
at the Waterberg.
(4) In 1902 Oberleutnant Streiwolf
estimated Maharero to have 15,000 followers and Kambazembi to have
only 8,000; making a total of 23,000
(5)
In May 1904
according to Governor Leutwein there were about 60,000 Hereros.
Following the Herero - Nama war
Dr. Paul Rohrbach the German commissioner for colonization gave the
lower estimation of a probable 40,000 Hereros along with their
60,000 cattle.
The Herero arrived at the
Waterberg towards the end of an exceptionally good rainy season. Von
Trotha writes that by August the land had been grazed-out by the
Herero cattle. The nagging question is. "Would the waterholes have
been able to supply enough water for 80,000 people plus all of their
live-stock from the month of April to August?"
but was it possible to
accommodate all of these people plus their live-stock at the
Waterberg in the non-rainy season.
Samuel Maharero: The distance, 'as the crow flies' from the
Waterberg to the village of Tsau, just north of Lake Ngami in north
western British Bechuanaland (Botswana) is about 620km, and it was
to here that Samuel Maharero with a small and loyal group were
reported to have arrived in early December 1904. By August of the
following year there numbers had swelled to about 200, including 75
men. The British recorded that by the end of 1905 a total of 1,175
Hereros had settled in Bechuanaland.
Samuel lived as an exile at Tsau until 1907
from where he moved to the Transvaal settling on the farm
Groenfontein, about 112km north-west of Potgietersrus. In 1913 the
Native Land Act was passed in South Africa which prevented blacks
from living outside of an existing Bantu reserved area. Groenfontein
was directly affected and Samuel had to move to to Werkendam near
Nylstroom. In 1919 Samuel asked the Authorities at Mafeking for
permission to return and reside in Bechuanaland. In 1922
Samuel along with a small group of his loyal
subjects settled at Mahalapye in the Ngwato reserve. For last
remaining few months of his life he lived in Serowe, where he died
on 14 March 1923. His body was eventually transferred to Okahandja
where he was buried on 26 August 1923. The reverend Dr. Vedder held the
service.
The Prisoners of War:
By the 11 January 1905, and one year from Samuel
Maharero's announcement for hostilities to begin the Germans had
taken prisoner 8,889 Herero men, women and children. Those captured
were branded with the letters GH (gefangene Herero). The physical
condition of virtually all of the Hereros taken captive was poor
owing to the ordeal they had suffered. The conditions in the
concentration / labour camps were a death warrant for the majority.
Many were shipped south to work as slave labour on the Luderitz -
Keetmanshoop railway line. The deaths of the Herero camp inmates is
not recorded, but of the 1,800 Hottentot (Nama) prisoners
transferred to the Shark Island (Luderitz) camp only 245 survived.
The Hereros Who Survived:
(1). Apart from those taken into captivity as
Prisoner of War the Rhenish Missionary Society had brought in as
many as 12,500 from the veld.
(2). An estimated 800 to 1,000 sought shelter
within the British enclave of Walvis Bay.
(3). It is not known how many Hereros made their
way into British Bechuanaland (Botswana) figures range from 1,175 to
5,000.
(4). An unknown number remained in German South
West Africa undetected.
(5). German Government records showed that in 1912
as many as 19,721 Hereros were living within the borders of the
Protectorate.
The
Question Of Genocide ?
The counting of Africa's dead, even in modern times, appears to be
an exercise that would confound the best of arithmeticians. The
recent systematic starvation to death and murder of some 1 million
Sudanese failed to be categorized as Genocide by the African Nations,
which could prompt us to question, "Of what value is an African life
when killed by an African, as opposed to that when killed by a
non-African?
Whether the number who perished
at the Waterberg and during the following flight into the Omaheke
was 60,000 or less is debatable, but there can be no denial that the
Herero as a Nation of people along with their culture and great
cattle herds had been cruelly and systematically destroyed, and
their lands parceled off as booty. But an event that happened in
Africa, another world, and far removed from the
fashionable salons of the Kurfurstendamm. However, within 40 years, and much closer to 'home', the crematoriums at dozens of German
death camps throughout Eastern Europe were working hard and efficiently in an attempt to
conceal the evidence of yet another and even greater holocaust.
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Namibia's Unknown Soldier |
German Grave Yard at Waterberg |
Heroes' Acre Memorial at Windhoek |
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The German graveyard of the
soldiers who fell in combat at the Waterberg remains the only onsite
testament that a battle was fought there.
The Hereros who died on the
field of battle along with those who succumbed of thirst and hunger
in the wilderness of the Omaheke Desert are befittingly remembered
at the Namibian National Memorial in Windhoek - Heroes' Acre.
The beautiful bronze mural depicts their struggle as a nation of
freedom fighters against a terrible and oppressive foe. The site of
eternal flame at the Heroes' Acre Memorial is the place to which
present and future generations of Namibians can visit, say a short
prayer, and contemplate that we as a species, and with an alarming
regularity fail in our humanity towards our fellow man. A
shortcoming that we must strive hard against.
Acknowledgements and further reading:
H6, H7, P1, P2,
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Local Area Attractions and Articles of associated interest
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►
Herero Uprising
► Battle of Waterberg 1
► Heroes Acre Memorial
► Otjiwarongo
► Waterberg Resort
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